He begins explaining the job. Go into the PCC, Find & Terminate a target, we have 3 days, pay is 2,250¥ now and after. More specifically, our target is one Wapacha Black-Wolf a CEO of XCR; he’ll be on vacation for the next three days. Concerning his termination, it MUST look like an accident.

One detail Clint left out, is that Cho recognized Mr. Johnson as Alesandro Ibáñez. She also knew a little bit about his history; that his wife and owner of XCR, Margaret, had been killed some years earlier by a terrorist organization, EarthFirst!

Cho knows of EarthFirst! as well, as they are the organization suspected of bombing the plant that killed her parents and destroying her arm. It isn’t explicitely said, but the group suspects that Alesandro believes their target, Wapacha, was somehow involved in the attack.

We give thanks for the meal and head out. My mind begins to buzz. All around me the team goes to work! Cho explains that our target is a murderous A-hole, Marius tries to get us registered as hotel security, and Wheeler alerts us to a situation while Levi, Jade, and I compare malicious “accidents.”

A low rumble and flash of flame accompany Wheeler’s news that shit just got real in the PCC. Just past the border we have to cross a war has erupted, fuckin Godz and Ghostriders. Dicks. No one is getting in or out of the PCC for a week. And that won’t do. I hear an obviously frazzled Peaches talking to Wheeler, he says we got a way, which leads us to Gonzalo “Loco” Cabrera. He’s a complete dick. We give him some protection; he gets us into the PCC.

Loco drives his shitty van fast….very fast….like some sort of sadistic suicidal maniac! But Wheeler is a damn artist behind the wheel. Loco heads towards the most repulsive smelling facility in all of Denver, and speeds up. Soon the speed justified, the odor of this place may be revolting but might as well be made of flowers compared to the loud sound that breaks past the roar of engines.

“GHOULS”! Wheeler once again alerts us of horrible news. No sooner than Wheeler had said ‘GH-‘ Marius was in the gun, littering our wake with Ghoul-confetti, Cho much more economically aerates the brains and hearts of the approaching fiends. Jade removes quickly approaching limbs with vicious pumps of her shot-gun. Levi stops several mid-jump with tactful physical barriers.

If shots miss their targets they were quickly followed with two obvious BUM-BUMPS of fresh road kill. The head count rises as I send a ghoul about 100 feet straight up. Loco screeches to a halt in front of a large metal door, we stop – which seems like a bad idea – with a gruesome CRUNCH! The thrown ghoul signals the beginning of a hellish stand-off.

Hearts beating heavy as we hear the revolting growls of the terrors approaching from all sides…

The next thirty seconds were nearly deafening with the howling of ghouls, the splattering of ghouls and a scattered sound as bits of ghoul rain-down all around our van.

Cho takes one out as it comes into view.

I smash a small pack scattering them across the ground.

Marius continues to spay-and-pray and yell like a madman!

Jade brings the hurt down. A hurt followed by a large explosion.

Wheeler keeps his eyes on Loco; keeping the insane asshole safe.

Cho’s aim remains impressive.

The tinkling of shells and thinning of ghouls lets us know that Thumper is doing its job with Marius at the helm.

I take out two “lucky” ghouls who were spared by Thumper, sending them through a huge pile of scrap.

Levi joins the fire fight with terrifying accuracy.

Jade laughter as a grenade liquefies a group of ghouls changes the definition of terrifying

We all continue to keep the ghouls at a comfortable range. Finally The old-ass gates have opened wide enough for us to get through The maniac Loco shoots wildly as he runs back to his van, tearing it to shit as he goes through the gate.

Wheeler backs into a ghoul and gets us through as well. While the rest of us take care of the quickly flanking ghouls. Afterwards, we boast about our kill counts. Marius had 9, Cho 11, Jade 7, Wheeler 6, Levi 7 and myself with 17. All told, we put down 57 ghouls during that crazy ten minute period.

This portion of the run was probably about the funnest encounter of the run for the group. I ran with the ghouls similar to the way D&D 4th Ed handles minions. This was a concept I heard about in the Penny-Arcade / PvP D&D podcaststhat I thought was very interesting and wanted to play with.

In 4th Ed D&D, minions are somewhat weaker monsters that can appear in large groups. They effectively have 1 hit point, so any blow that lands will kill them. This lets the DM throw many monsters at the players and let them feel like heroes taking them down in single swings.

Since ferral ghouls are melee creatures by nature and they would be in a moving vehicle with firearms, I felt comfortable throwing dozens of ghouls at the players using this same mechanic. Ghouls are notoriously tough traditionally, so I played each “hit” as an attack that knocked the ghoul down or broke its stride, preventing it from finishing its persuit since they were traveling so fast.

The mechanic is one I would like to play with further in the future, perhaps in a Left 4 Dead style zombie rush of some type, with the players holding down a position against a horde of enemies.

We make our way through a large sewer on a shitty boat, which leads us to an even shittier lift. The rickety pile of rust woks and we find ourselves in “Loco’s U-Pull-It” we say our good-byes and get as far away from that maniac as possible. But we’re finally in the PCC, now ridden with fires and scavengers. The more miles we us between us and Denver the more the city looks like the city of fire and destruction it really is…